Calgary Transit rolls out mobile ticketing app

Calgary Transit is introducing its long-awaited mobile ticketing system on Wednesday.

The new My Fare app allows users to buy and validate adult and youth monthly passes or single-ride tickets on their phones. It can be scanned while boarding the bus, or shown to transit officers on the LRT.

"Just download the app and purchase tickets. It's fast, easy and available any time you're on the go," says the Calgary Transit website.

Calgary Transit says it has no plan to eliminate paper tickets.

Calgary Transit manager Russell Davies says free masks are also being handed in a bid to promote and normalize their use as riders are allowed to once again board buses at the front starting Wednesday.

"So those kinds of actions, all together, that's what's allowing us to do front-door loading tomorrow and allowing us to get our service back to a far more normal kind of arrangement," he said.

Mayor Naheed Nenshi says he will consider making masks mandatory on transit unless 60 to 70 per cent of riders wear them.

"It's incredibly important that people wear masks on transit at all times. We're not mandating it," he said.

"However, if we don't see much higher numbers, that certainly is a tool that is within our disposal to make it mandatory to wear a mask on transit. Right now, we're relying on people to do the right thing."

Calgary Transit cancelled two trouble-plagued previous attempts at implementing earlier iterations of a mobile electronic fare payment system.